PM Morawiecki discussed EU budget with von der Leyen and Michel

It was a very constructive and positive meeting during which we discussed the EU budget. I think we made progress over a number of issues - Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after a meeting with EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr Morawiecki informed that he and von der Leyen on Thursday's meeting discussed in great detail the question of the EU budget. "We exchanged our views regarding the budget. Obviously, we had to admit with regret that there would be less funds for the upcoming financial perspective, because the United Kingdom had left the EU" - Morawiecki told Polish journalists.

He added, however, that all new goals could not be achieved at the cost of the treaty policies - the cohesion fund, which covers the costs of road and bridges construction. Polish PM also informed that much of discussion was devoted to the Common Agricultural Policy

"I think that today we made progress on a number of issues" - he stressed and added that it pertained to confidential negotiations and hence he couldn't provide any details. "A very constructive, very positive meeting" - said the head of the Polish government.

Morawiecki added that they didn't discuss the rule of law question. Referring to the green deal, he said that they only "touched upon climate issues as a sideline".

Potential saving sources

Later that day, Mateusz Morawiecki met with the President of the European Council Charles Michel.

"Poland will play a constructive role in working out of the final consensus over the European budget" - he told journalists after the meeting. He added that Poland has put forward a number of proposals, already discussed by various bodies including the European Council. Morawiecki stressed that he and Michel also talked about these ideas.

"They were met with huge interest. Obviously, the EP would be especially interested, but also the chief of the European Council Charles Michel was very keen to hear concrete solutions and even presented some himself, to which in turn we replied very positively" - the prime minister said.

Morawiecki pointed out that one of the sources of own revenue could be a "plastic fee". "(A fee) for using plastic in various forms, especially plastic bottles. Here I stressed it very strongly that it must be proportional to GDP per capita. It cannot be regressive, it cannot charge more from those having lower income" - he stressed.

Both politicians also discussed introducing a fee for big international corporations for operating on the European Single Market. "Poland strongly supports this idea, as not only it is very democratic, it supports the middle class, small and medium businesses, and at the same time these international giants - huge American, Chinese, Indian, as well as European companies - each of then could be paying a small fee for using the single market" - he said.

The head of the Polish government said they also discussed the question of "carbon border tax" namely - as he explained - a fee that Far East companies, for instance selling steel, cement, fertilisers or glass products to Europe, would be required to pay to balance the competition level between European companies and those from other parts of the world. He added that such initiatives help to keep industry running in Europe.

He explained that such revenue would help to secure the achievement of budgetary goals, concerning migration, innovation and defense policy. "Those are goals that we support, but only assuming it won't be at the cost of the so-called treaty policies" - he added.

PM Morawiecki also said the Polish delegation indicated many sources of potential savings in the EU budget. "These sources would be, for instance, cutting administrative costs. What's the point of extending bureaucracy in Brussels?" - Morawiecki asked. According to him, the chief of the European Council agreed with this point of view.

As another source of potential savings, Morawiecki pointed at expenses resulting from "some policies of funds".